Aeroplanes

Aeroplanes are a kind of flying machine. They appear mostly in Leviathan. The aeroplanes in the illustrations appear to be both biplanes and sesquiplanes, a kind of biplane with a smaller lower wing. The aeroplanes which appear in the series are armed with machine guns and phosphorous canisters and use propellers and Clanker engines. The planes which attack the Leviathan have a pilot and a gunner.

Aeroplanes attack the Leviathan when Great Britain and Germany declare war on each other. The Leviathan first sends strafing hawks to fight the aeroplanes, and Deryn and Newkirk must feed the fléchette bats to attack the aeroplanes. An aeroplane intends to ram the Leviathan and is shot by and air gun. One of the aeroplanes shoots Mr. Rigby, causing Deryn to need to jump off of one side of the Leviathan to stop him from falling off.

The German aeroplane attack causes the Leviathan to crash in the Swiss Alps, where Alek and Deryn meet.